The results of a recent German study suggest a link between financial troubles and obesity - a relationship that does not bode well for Americans who are suffering financially due to the recent economic downturn. German researchers collected data from 949 study participants who were in debt and found that 25 percent were medically obese compared to 11 percent of the remaining 8,318 study participants who were not in debt.

Eva Münster, from the University of Mainz, Germany, and her colleagues concluded in Friday's online issue of the journal BMC Public Health: "Over-indebtedness was associated with an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity that was not explained by traditional definitions of socioeconomic status."

For the purposes of the study, "over-indebtedness" was defined as "lack of possible debt redemption in due time due to the relation of income and cost of living after a remarkable cutback in standard of living." The German researchers found that individuals in over-indebtedness were 1.97 times more likely to be overweight and 2.56 time more likely to be obese, after adjusting for age, sex, education, income, and health factors such as depression and smoking.

(Source: www.cbc.ca)

Labels: obesity, money

Posted By: Aspen Education Group